Method for packaging self-sealing aspalt shingles



June 1964 B. J. OLSZYK ET AL METHOD FOR PACKAGING SELF-SEALING ASPHALT SHINGLES INVENTOR. BERNARD J. CLSZYK 2 Sheets-Sheet l PHIHP B. SHEPHERD ATTORNEY Filed Dec.

June 23, 1964 B. J- OLSZYK ET AL METHOD FOR PACKAGING SELF-SEALING ASPHALT SHINGLES Filed Dec.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ISA INVENTOR. BERNARD I. OLSZYK BY PHILIP B. SHEPHERD ATTORN Y United States Patent 3,138,251 METHOD FOR PACKAGING SELF-SEALING ASPHALT SI-HNGLES Bernard J. Olszyk, Raritan, and Philip B. Shepherd, Middlesex, N.J., assignors to Johns-Manville (Iorporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 18, 1961, Ser. No. 159,855 5 Claims. (Cl. 206-40) This invention relates to self-sealing asphalt shingles, and, in particular, it relates to a method of packaging a bundle of such shingles and to the article produced thereby.

One of the more important improvements made in asphalt shingles, used in covering roofs, has been the application of a self-sealing adhesive stripe upon a major surface of each shingle. When the shingles are applied as a roof covering, the stripe of a shingle adheres to an adjacent shingle, either directly beneath or above it, by the action of the weight of one shingle upon the other or through the assistance of solar heating, which softens the stripe adhesive making it wet and tacky and capable of adhering two overlapping shingles to each other. The particular adhesive used may be basically of the heat sensitive type or of the pressure sensitive type, or the adhesive may exhibit both pressure sensitive and thermal sensitive characteristics. The adhesive is applied on a major surface of a shingle as a stripe or band extending the full length thereof. The stripe may be continuous or intermittent, the latterbeing in a plurality of dabs of adhesive, or the like. The adhesive may be positioned centrally between the head and butt portions of the shingle, or adjacent the head if it is on the face of the shingle, or adjacent the butt if it is on the back side of the shingle.

One of the problems encountered with self-sealing shingles has been the adherence between shingles while bundled, caused, in part, by the stacking arrangement of the shingles. For example, a stack of shingles, 58 bundles high, may have its lowermost shingles tightlyadhered to each other. Such a condition is brought about by cold flow or spread of the adhesive outwardly of the edges of any protective covering material, used to prevent adherence between shingles, under the weight load of the bundles. Various types of packaging arrangements have been utilized in the past, being designed primarily to avoid this shingle sticking problem. However, often the resultant packages or bundles are bothersome to unwrap, or the bundle is unduly complicated, or the packaging machinery or techniques must be materially altered to accommodate the new packaging arrangement.

An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a novel packaging arrangement for self-sealing asphalt shingles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel bundle of self-sealing shingles, wherein pressure relief for the adhesive stripes under load conditions is provided by the bundle wrapper.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a wrapper and packaging arrangement for a stack of selfsealing asphalt shingles, which wrapper and package are relatively simple to break open to present the shingles ready for use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wrapper for a bundle of self-sealing shingles, wherein the last shingle in a bundle is protected from having foreign matter adhering to its adhesive stripe or contaminating its finished surface.

In brief, this invention provides for a wrapper, preferably of a light cardboard type, wherein the body por- Patented June 23, 1964 "ice tion of the Wrapper covers the bottom and sides of the shingles in the bundle and a pair of ends of the wrapper are folded over the upper surface of the bundle, or the last or the uppermost shingle therein. The wrapper is made oversize in the dimension for covering the girth of the bundle. A pair of ends of the Wrapper are folded over upon themselves and mated with the uppermost shingle in the bundle to cover at least a substantial portion of the head and butt portions of the shingles. As a result of the folding, a gap is created between such folded ends. The shingles are stacked in such a manner that the adhesive stripes are at least in approximate alignment subjacent the area of the gap between the wrapper ends. Also as a result of the folding, the upper surface of the wrapper adjacent the folded ends is such that the uppermost surface of the wrapper at the folded ends is-somewhat higher than the adhesive stripe of the last or uppermost shingle in the bundle, even though the portion of the bundle adjacent the aligned adhesive stripes may be bulged to a considerable degree, such bulging being caused by the added thickness within each shingle by the thickness of the stripe and the thickness of any stripe protective covering.

To protect the last shingle from having its adhesive stripe or the finished surface of the shingle from being contaminated by foreign material, a thin covering material, as, for example, a thin sheet of paper, or the like, is superimposed thereover and placed subjacent the foldedover ends of the wrapper. Preferably, the covering material is adhered, or otherwise secured, to one of the foldedover ends.

During opening of a bundle, one of the folded-over ends of the wrapper is lifted up out of shingle engaging position, and the other end is thereafter likewise lifted up out of shingle engaging position. However, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, since one of the folded-over ends has adhered thereto the covering material for the adhesive stripe of the last shingle, it carries with it the covering material, thereby also removing the covering material out of shingle engaging position and leaving the entire bundle of shingles exposed and ready for use.

During stacking of bundles of shingles, the pressure upon the shingles in a bottom bundle, created by the weight of the bundles situated thereover, is transmitted through portions of the Wrapper, but primarily through the folded-over portions thereof to the shingles of the bundle. No direct pressure is applied on the adhesive areas of the shingles; because of this fact, spreading or cold flow of the adhesive is avoided or reduced to a very safe level.

The above and other objects will be apparent from the preceding brief description, the following more detailed description of the invention, and the included drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of an asphalt shingle of the self-sealing type used to form the bundles described herein;

FIG. 2 is a partial pictorial view, depicting the'initial stacking of the shingles, the positioning of the wrapper enclosing such shingles, and the lengths of the wrap per ends relative to the upper surface'of the bundle;

FIG. 3 is a partial'pictorial view, depicting the position of the wrapper when the ends thereof are folded over; FIG. 4 is a pictorial view showing a complete bundle of shingles of the instant inventionjand FIG. 5 is an end view, depicting a simple stacking arrangement of bundles of shingles and illustrating the manner of pressure relief for the adhesive stripes on the shingles within a bundle.

Referring in particular to FIG. 1, an exemplary selfsealing asphalt shingle is depicted therein; it is formed from a fibrous base layer 4, having superimposed upon the major surfaces thereof a layer 5 and a layer 6 of asphalt or bituminous substances, which are impregnated into the fibrous interlayer and provide coatings thereupon. Usually, the surface coating 6 is much thicker than the underlayment coating 5. Embedded in the upper surface of coating 6 is a myriad of granules 7, providing a protective and fireproof covering for the shingle. The shingle 1 is usually made much longer than it is Wide, and slits 3, 9 are made therein to simulate a plurality of smaller shingles after such shingle 1, and others, are applied as a roof covering.

On the upper major surface of the shingle 1 is superimposed an adhesive band or stripe 2 extending the full length of the shingle. Such band or stripe is depicted as being intermittent; however, it may be continuous, also extending from one side edge of the shingle to the other. The adhesive may also be applied in small dabs along the length of the shingle.

On the opposite surface of the shingle, or the back side thereof (FIG. 1), a non-adhering surface 3 is formed therein or applied thereto. Such non-adhering surface may be of various types, depending upon the characteristics of the adhesive used in the stripe 2. For example, the non-adhering surface may be a layer of shellac secured to the back surface or back side of the shingle, or it may be a strip of treated paper permanently secured to the back side or temporarily secured thereto so as to be removable prior to installation of the shingle as a roof covering. A treated paper may also be applied directly over the adhesive stripe 2, rather than on the back side thereof.

The adhesive stripe 2 and its complementary non-adhesive material 3 on the back side are depicted as being located centrally of the shingle, measured from head to butt. However, various other arrangements are possible, and the stripe may be applied closer to the head on the upper surface, of the shingle or adjacent the butt on the back surface of the shingle. With different adhesive locations, the non-adhesive surface 3 is also repositioned accordingly. In the shingle depicted, the non-adhesive surface 3 is complementary to the adhesive stripe or band on an adjacent shingle and aligned approximately therewith. However, the invention may be employed to advantage with various other types of adhesives, adhesive arrangements, and/or non-adhesive surfaces which may be used on the shingles in various ways such as to make it desirable to prevent pressures from acting excessively upon particular portions or areas of the shingles in the bundles, under conditions arising in stacking, storage, and/or shipment. The invention thus also has application in situations where non-adhesive surfaces are not employed.

Utilizing the shingle depicted in FIG. 1, the stacking arrangement (referring in particular to FIG. 2) has the shingles placed face-to-back, with the adhesive stripes 2 being continually uppermost and the non-adhesive areas 3 being always lowermost. The lateral ends and head and butt edges of the shingles are properly aligned soas to present a neat bundle. A non-adhesive area 3 of one shingle is superimpoesd upon an adhesive stripe 2 of a subjacent shingle, thereby preventing adjacent shingles from adhering to each other. Preferably, the non-adhesive area 3 is slightly wider than the width of stripe 2 to allow for some degree of misalignment.

The shingles may be gradually amassed on the wrapper 10, or the shingles, of a proper bundle height, may be transferred to a station in the manufacturing line wherein the amassed body of shingles can be superimposed upon a wrapper. In FIG. 2, the shingles are shown as being gradually being built up to form a bundle of shingles upon the wrapper. The latter is folded over to present a lower surface 12 upon which the shingles 1 are amassed. The

sides 11, 13 are turned up at approximate right angles to the lower surface 12, so as to enclose the heads and butts of the shingles. Each side portion 11, 13 has an extended area 1 15 therewith adjacent the ends of the wrapper. As a result, the side portions 11, 13 are much longer than necessary to enclose the bundle properly.

After the shingles have been amassed to the proper height (referring to FIG. 3), the wrapper ends 14, 15 are folded over along an indicia or scoring B, the latter being provided to facilitate proper folding. Along one of the wrapper ends, for example, end 15, an adhesive 16 is applied thereto along the length of the wrapper (or parallel to the length of a shingle within the bundle). The adhesive is of a conventional nature; for example, inexpensive animal glues, starches, and asphalt are quite adequate. The accumulated shingles have superimposed thereover a covering material 17, the latter preferably being of the type having one surface which will not adhere to the adhesive stripe, the other surface being capable of adhering. For example, the material may be a sheet of paper treated on one surface with silicone, vor a thin metal foil. The thickness of the material ordinarily is in the range of approximately l-lO mils. If desired, the opposite end 14- may also have an adhesive stripe similar to the stripe 16; however, in the preferred embodiment, the adhesive stripe 16 is placed on only one of the foldedover wrapper ends.

The bundle of shingles is thereafter covered by the placement of the folded-over wrapper ends upon the upper surface of the upper shingle (referring in particular to FIG. 4). The ends 14, 15, being folded over, provide built-up portions 18, 19, such that the thickness at each built-up portion (18 or 19) is greater than the height of any bulge in the bundle appearing adjacent the upper adhesive stripe 2, both being measured, for example, from the surface of the bundle of shingles adjacent the head or butt portion. Examining the wrapper from the viewpoint of the entire bundle, the upper surfaces of built-up portions 18, 19 are always higher than the upper surface of any bulge within a shingle stack.

In the particular stacking arrangement disclosed herein, the adhesive stripes 2 are superimposed one upon the other. Although the adhesive stripes 2 are quite thin, usually ranging between 3-15 mils, or thereabouts, fifteen or twenty of such stripes produce a bulge approximately /s" or /2" above the upper surface of the uppermost shingle. To this dimension must also be added the thicknesses of any non-adhesive materials used.

The bulge in a stack of shingles may be minimized by altering the packaging arrangement, whereby all the adhesive stripes are not directly superimposed one upon the other, but are generally in approximate vertical alignment. For example, one-half of the stripes in the bundle may be superimposed upon each other while the other half of the stripes may be superimposed one above the other, with the two tiers of stripes being adjacent each other, say within two or three inches. Such an arrangement may be obtained by periodic reversal of the headand-butt relationship of the shingles.

When the wrapper ends are placed upon the uppermost shingle, a gap G is created between the edges 20, 21 of the folded-over wrapper ends. In addition, end 15, mated with the covering material 17, has its adhesive 16 secured to the covering material 17. The opposite folded-over end 14 is merely superimposed over a portion of the covering material, thereby holding the latter in place therebeneath.

Thereafter, the bundle may be passed through fastening mechanisms of the shingle fabricating machine, and, for example, several strands of wire 22 may be passed around the girth of the bundle securing the wrapper to the shingles and holding the latter into a single unit. Other types of securing or fastening systems may be substituted for the wire wrapping mechanism, as is well known in the art.

After the bundle is formed, a plurality of such bundles are placed in inventory and stacked one upon the other. Usually, for example, the bundles are placed on a platform three abreast, and the bundles are stacked at least five tiers high. Alternate tiers may be staggered to facilitate the retention of the bundles in vertical alignment. Referring to FIG. 5, the bundles, A, B, C are shown in a simple stacked relationship, the staggered arrangement not being shown and the other bundles being omitted for purposes of simplification. Bundle B has its lowermost wrapper surface 123 in contact with wrapper surface 13A and 19A of bundle A, and there is no contact between bundle B and the adhesive stripe 2A (or the covering material thereover) of the uppermost shingle in bundle A. The total Weight of bundles B and C, while transmitted to bundle A, is not transmitted directly through the adhesive stripes of bundle A but adjacent the head and butt ends of the shingles in the latter bundle and directly through the surface areas 18A, 19A. The direct pressure, ordinarily exerted upon the adhesive stripes in the shingles of bundle A and sufiicient to cause cold fiow or oozing of the adhesive in the stripe, is greatly minimized and virtually eliminated. Such direct pressure relief is of tremendous benefit, when it is considered that the bundles may be stacked five to eight bundles high in a warehouse wherein the temperatures may reach 100 F., or thereabouts, or the bundles may be stacked five to eight high exposed to the hot sun on a job site, gradually absorbing heat to cause the temperature Within a bundle to approach and even to exceed 100 F. It is to be understood that the entire pressure of the weight load is not removed from adjacent the stripe areas of the shingles, the main aspect of such pressure relief being that the direct load forces are shifted to other areas of the bundles. The stripes have pressure imparted thereto since an uppermost shingle of a bundle under load will act as a diaphragm; however, since the shingles are quite flexible and because of the loading arrangement provided, the pressure at the adhesive areas never exceeds that pressure which would produce appreciable cold flow or spreading of the adhesive even when the shingle or bundle temperatures may be quite high.

When the shingles are to be used, the wire strands 22 (if such be the fastening means) are cut, and wrapper end 14 is elevated and bent over, say, the head edges of the shingles. In the preferred embodiment, no adhesive is applied between the end 14 and the covering material 17. As a result, the covering material 17 stays in position intact. Wrapper end 15 is turned from the bundle, and it and Wrapper side 13 are turned past the opposite edges (or the butt edges) of the shingles. The covering material 17, being adhered to end 15 by adhesive 16, is transported or carried therewith, thereby leaving the entire bundle of shingles exposed. Since the covering material 17 is of a nature that its undersurface will not adhere to an adhesive stripe 2 (being, for example, of treated paper, metallic foil, or the like), it separates itself readily and easily from the adhesive stripe 2.

During storage, the covering material 17 prevents contaminants from adhering to an adhesive stripe 2 or discoloring the shingles in any manner.

While the invention has been described in rather full detail, it will be understood that these details need not be strictly adhered to and that various changes and modifications may suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, all falling Within the scope of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a bundle of stacked asphalt shingles, each of said shingles having an adhesive stripe extending the length thereof, and the stripes of the shingles being superimposed approximately over each other so as to create a bulge at the upper surface of the bundle, the improvement comprising a paper Wrapper enclosing at least the sides of the bundle, the ends of the wrapper being folded upon themselves and engaging the upper surface of the bundle on opposite sides of the bulge, the portions of the wrapper folded upon themselves being thicker than the bulge, said thicker Wrapper portions affording direct pressure relief for the adhesive stripes during stacking of bundles.

2. A bundle of stacked asphalt shingles, comprising a plurality of shingles having an adhesive stripe extending the length thereof, at least some of the stripes being in approximate alignment so as to create a bulge on the surface of the bundle, a wrapper enclosing at least the sides of the bundle of shingles, the end portions of the wrapper terminating on the upper surface of the bundle on opposite sides of the bulge and being folded upon themselves, the thickness of the folded-over end portions being greater than the bulge at the bundle surface thereby providing direct pressure relief for the adhesive stripe under load, and a covering material lying under the end portions and covering the bulge.

3. A bundle of stacked shingles as recited in claim 2, wherein the covering material is attached to the underside of one of the folded end portions of the wrapper.

4. A bundle of stacked shingles as recited in claim 2, wherein the covering material is adhesively secured to the underside of one of the folded end portions of the wrapper.

5. A bundle of stacked shingles, one outer shingle having an elongated bulge generally parallel to one edge thereof, comprising a wrapper covering the sides of the stacked shingles which are parallel to the outer shingle edge, the end portions of said Wrapper terminating on said one outer shingle on opposite sides of the elongated bulge, the end portions being thicker than the height of the bulge above the surface of said shingle, a protective sheet over the bulge and extending between the outer shingle and the end portions of the Wrapper, said protective sheet being adhesively secured to the underside of one of the end portions of the wrapper, and means fastening said wrapper to said stack of shingles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,142,142 Newsom Jan. 3, 1939 2,827,223 Allison Mar. 18, 1958 2,885,073 Bettoli et al May 5, 1959 3,042,193 Wendt July 3, 1962 

2. A BUNDLE OF STACKED ASPHALT SHINGLES, COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SHINGLES HAVING AN ADHESIVE STRIPE EXTENDING THE LENGTH THEREOF, AT LEAST SOME OF THE STRIPES BEING IN APPROXIMATE ALIGNMENT SO AS TO CREATE A BULGE ON THE SURFACE OF THE BUNDLE, A WRAPPER ENCLOSING AT LEAST THE SIDES OF THE BUNDLE OF SHINGLES, THE END PORTIONS OF THE WRAPPER TERMINATING ON THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE BUNDLE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE BULGE AND BEING FOLDED UPON THEMSELVES, THE THICKNESS OF THE FOLDED-OVER END PORTIONS BEING GREATER THAN THE BULGE AT THE BUNDLE SURFACE THEREBY PROVIDING DIRECT PRESSURE RELIEF FOR THE ADHESIVE STRIPE UNDER LOAD, AND A COVERING MATERIAL LYING UNDER THE END PORTIONS AND COVERING THE BULGE. 